Rules and Procedures for Monthly Competitions

Revised May 17, 2018 (Revisions in Red Italics)

Only AVCC members may enter the club competitions.

There are no restrictions on when a competition image was
created.

All elements of an image must be exclusively the work of the person submitting the image and have originated as photographs (image/captures of objects via light sensitivity) made by the entrant on photographic emulsion or acquired by camera digitally. Elements not the sole creation of the maker are NOT allowed. Clip Art and downloaded images from the internet or from other electronic resources are not acceptable as part of a submitted image. A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is, "If you did not push the shutter, you cannot use the image." By virtue of submitting an entry, the entrant certifies the work as his/her own. If an image does not meet the intent of this rule, it will be disqualified from the competition and will receive a score of nine.

All processing to an image must be done by the maker, with the exception of using an outside printing service.

Members are responsible for submitting digital images correctly. This applies to correct size, appropriate orientation, category, number of critiques, etc.

An image previously entered in a club competition may be re-entered
into any club competition, digital or print, provided it has
not placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in any AVCC monthly club competitions. If an image that has previously won an award in an AVCC monthly competition is re-entered in a subsequent competition, the image will be disqualified and will receive a score of nine. It is the responsibility of each competitor to keep a record of winning images to avoid disqualification and the loss of points that would result from such disqualification.

A goal of AVCC's competition is to expand the skills of its members by encouraging the creation of new work, not the re-treating of old. Thus, any image that can be clearly recognized as a near duplicate of an award-winning image from any of AVCC's monthly competitions, even if it has been modified through cropping, color alteration, exposure adjustment, etc., is not eligible to be entered into any subsequent monthly competition. A near duplicate is defined as a remarkably similar image of the same subject shot from a similar position, at the same time of day or lighting conditions regardless of cropping, orientation or any other post-processing adjustments. Rotating a camera from horizontal to vertical to create a near-duplicate exposure of the same subject seconds after the first image is taken is not acceptable as new work. If a near duplicate image is entered into an AVCC monthly competition in either the print or digital category, the image will be disqualified, pulled from the competition, and will receive a score of nine.

Nature images must follow the Photographic Society of America's definition of nature as found on the Nature Definition web page. If an image is found to be in violation of the PSA definition of Nature, it will be disqualified and will receive a score of nine.

Infractions discovered after a competition has been completed will be disqualified and re-scored to a nine. Any awards that the image may have won in competition will be rescinded, and the image will be removed from the club's website. An infraction of competition rules should be brought to the attention of the club president, who will then bring the concern to the Executive Board for review.

If the Executive Board believes an image is questionable, the maker shall fully cooperate with the Board or its designee to resolve the matter. Failure to do so will result in disqualification and rescored to a nine. Any image brought into question, must be fully supported by the image's raw file and metadata.

Any member who has missed a Print or any Digital competition (assigned and/or open) may submit a make-up entry only in
the competition following the one missed. This is permitted only
once per club year per entry type.

Competitors are divided into groups called classes. Members of a
class compete against each other. The digital competition classes are
"AA", "A", and "B". The print competition classes are "Gold",
"Silver".

Each competition night, there shall be a print
competition, a digital "Open" competition, and a digital "Assigned/Nature"
competition. Club members may submit one image in each of the three
competitions. The category schedule for the print competition and the
digital "Assigned/Nature" Competition can be found on the web page Category
Schedule. Members may have their print submission and one of their digital submissions critiqued by the judges on the night of the competition by indicating that fact at the time of their submittals. If a member selects a critique for both digital images, only the "Open" image will be critiqued on competition night.

Prints submitted for print competition must be mounted on a rigid material such as mat board, foam board, or similar material. Prints may be optionally matted. Prints cannot be framed, contain glass or be on sharp material. Prints cannot exceed 36 inches (length plus width) including any matting. All prints must be accompanied by an entry form completed with the maker's name and class, the image's title, an optional critique request and whether the print was taken since April 1st of the previous club year. This date information helps for future Multi-Screen Competition selections and is not required for the normal competition. Print submission must be completed by 7:15pm on the night of the competition.

Digital image files shall be submitted by a link on the Club’s web page. Members’ latest e-mail addresses must be provided to the Digital Competition Coordinator at least 1 week prior to the submission deadline so that they will be able to make submissions. Digital submissions shall be done on or before the Sunday prior to competition night. The submission process needs the image maker's class, name and email address, the image's title and category, and whether or not a critique is desired. No Digital images may be submitted after Sunday.
Rules and procedures for creating digital image files can be found on the web page Digital File Setup.

There shall be three (3) qualified judges at each competition. A
judge may be a club non-member or a club member who
preferably has not entered an image into the competition being judged. If
it is necessary that a club member who has entered an image into the
competition act as a judge, that club member shall not score their own
image. Their score shall be the sum of the scores of the other 2 judges plus
the rounded-up average of those 2 scores. Example: Member=0, Judge # 1’s
Score= 8.0, Judge #2’s Score=7.0, Rounded up Average=7.5, Total
Score=22.5

Each judge assigns a point-score in the range from 3 to 10. The highest
possible score for an image is 30 points and the lowest possible
score is 9 points.

An image, digital or print, that does not meet an “Assigned” or
“Nature” category in a judge's opinion shall receive a score
of 3 points from that judge.

On each competition night, there shall be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place
winners in each class of the print competition, the digital open
competition, and the "Assigned/Nature" digital competition. There shall
be no tie-breakers.

Any image that has been disqualified in a club competition will not be eligible to receive an award in the competition that it was disqualified.

The winning images from each of the digital competition classes shall be
made available for entry into PSA and NECCC competitions.

At the end of the club year in June, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
place awards shall be given for the highest cumulative
scores for each class in each category: print open, print
assigned, print nature, digital open, digital assigned, digital
nature. Additionally, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards shall be given
for the highest total scores for each class.

At the end of the club year, the top cumulative-scoring member in each
lower class will be moved to the next higher class. One will be moved from
digital class B to digital class A, one from digital class A to digital
class AA, one from
print class Silver to print class Gold. This procedure is subject to
change depending on the number of members in each class.

A new member entering the club will start in digital class B and print
class Silver unless they have belonged to another camera club. In that
case, they may choose their class.